Re: [LM_NET] END OF GUTENBERG ERA BIBLIOGRAPHY

[Thomas Kaun <tomkaun@GMAIL.COM>]

The point I would make, Bob, is not that people ignore the consequences of
technological innovation but that they should use those consequences to plan
change.

I'm going to be 64 next month so I've been around for a while--got my
library degree and credential in 1974.
Lots has changed in those years but not in a revolutionary way.

Things have happened incrementally and even if they've accelerated recently
that doesn't mean libraries as we know them are going to disappear
overnight.

You seem to have an alarmist bent which is a little like Chicken Little:
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
Well, I don't think the sky IS falling. And even if we've reached a tipping
point that doesn't justify committing suicide.

All the evidence of the disappearance of print media, starting famously with
"The Gutenberg Elegies," (which came out a lifetime ago--1995!) hasn't
really changed the fact that you can't read most currently published books
online free of charge, a minuscule number of people read e-books online and
even fewer have e-book readers. That's why I think libraries, public,
school, academic, special, etc. will be around for a long time to come.

BTW, unlike your friend/colleague who is bored with his job as a school
librarian, I've never been bored and as a matter of fact feel ever more
pressured to get my kids ready for whatever world they face, with whatever
tools I can provide them. In our field of information science, learning and
teaching go hand in hand or we aren't doing our job properly.

I wish I could understand what you are trying to accomplish with your
crusade. Do you think we librarians are just stupid and don't understand
that change is happening all around us? Well, maybe you're right in some
small way but I'd bet the vast majority of us are on board and know at least
a bit of what the future holds and don't need to be browbeaten into
understanding what's coming.

Honey -- Flies -- Vinegar -- there's something to the old saw!

I'd also love to see your editorial published someplace besides this
listserv so I and others could post comments to it. If you'd like I could
post it on my blog for you if you don't have a blog of your own. Or, even
better, set up a blog called "Libraries Are Kaput!" and start your own
conversation there. You could have links to all the stuff you've got below
and a lot more besides.

Good luck and thanks for raising important issues for all of us.

Tom Kaun

Thomas T. Kaun, Teacher Librarian
Bessie Chin Library @ Redwood High School
395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939
tomkaun@gmail.com | Library Web site: http://rhslibrary.org | Twitter:
besschinlibrary
President: CSLA - NS
All California students need strong school libraries.

Information doesn’t deserve to be free. It is an abstract tool; a useful
fantasy, a nothing. It is nonexistent until and unless a person experiences
it in a useful way. --Jaron Lanier


On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Bob Hicks <bob.hicks@usd470.com> wrote:

> CHANGE
> Too many people make the mistake of assuming "change" is automatically or
> guaranteed  good or positive.  Consequently, they are blindly in favor of
> any or all change.  Change is just change.  There is a 50/50 or equal chance
> it is good or bad or positive or negative.  History is replete with change
> for the worse.  It is merely faith over fact to believe that the age of the
> book and the "brick and mortar" library will go on forever or infinity.  Why
> would books and libraries be somehow uniquely exempt or immune from the
> negative consequences of technology?  It is hubris and wishful thinking to
> believe that printed books and libraries are irreplaceable or immortal.
>
> Here are some articles about the end of libraries and and the book era
>
> FUTURE OF BOOKS/LIBRARIES...
> http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/04/future.library.technology/
>
>
> http://opls.blogspot.com/2006/09/microsoft-opens-school-without-library.html
>
>
> 
>http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0717/p09s01-coop.html
>
>
> 
>http://directmarketingobservations.com/2008/01/18/death-of-the-library-and-rise-of-the-kindle/
>
> http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=259
>
> http://findingschools.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/end-of-libraries/
>
>
> http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/on-purpose-of-public-libraries.html
>
>
> EBOOK MARKET
>
> 
>http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/report_ereader_and_ebook_market_ready_for_growth.php
>
>
> 
>http://www.digitaltrends.com/talk-backs/the-future-of-ebooks-flexible-screens-and-beyond/
>
> END OF BOOKSTORES
> http://www.fonerbooks.com/booksale.htm
>
> BOOK BUYERS
>
> 
>http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/393983-New_Report_Examines_Book_Market_Buyers.php
>
> PUBLISHING TRENDS
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/dec/15/stephen-covey-amazon-ebook-deal
>
>
> 
>http://www.bowker.com/index.php/press-releases/563-bowker-reports-us-book-production-declines-3-in-2008-but-qon-demandq-publishing-more-than-doubles
>
> EBOOK SALES UP/YA SALES DOWN
>
> 
>http://www.publishers.org/main/PressCenter/Archicves/2010_February/SalesUp4.1in2009Release.htm
>
> Bob Hicks
> Arkansas City High School Library
> Arkansas City, KS 67005
> bob.hicks@usd470.com
>
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